Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. After the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, her focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious 'Kingkiller' Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning bad boy of chess.

Nolan's loss to an unknown rookie shocks everyone, but his desire to cross pawns again is even more confusing. The smart move would be to walk away, but Mallory's victory opens the door to sorely needed cash prizes, and she finds herself drawn to the enigmatic strategist. As she rockets up the ranks, Mallory struggles to keep her family safely separated from the game that wrecked it in the first place. As her love for the sport she so desperately wanted to hate begins to rekindle, she realizes that the games aren't only on the board, the spotlight is brighter than she imagined, and the competition can be fiercely attractive, intelligent, and infuriating.

This Afterlight Exclusive edition of *Check & Mate* is a B-format hardback and includes an exclusive alternate trade cover, full-colour artwork on the hardback by @eveandersondraws, digitally printed edges by @eveandersondraws, illustrated endpapers by @emmagilletteart with different designs on the front and back, and is digitally signed by the author.